Tomás de Torquemada (1420 - 1498) - Genealogy Tomás de Torquemada Share your family tree and photos with the people you know and love Build your family tree online Share photos and videos Valladolid, Valladolid, Castille and Leon, Spain Death: Between Jan 10 1420 and Jan 9 1421 - Valladolid,Spain Death: father About Tomás de Torquemada Tomás de Torquemada, O.P. (1420 – September 16, 1498) was a 15th-century Spanish Dominican friar and the first Grand Inquisitor in Spain's movement to restore Christianity among its populace in the late 15th century. As well as being the Grand Inquisitor, Torquemada was also the confessor to Isabella I of Castile. He is notorious for his zealous campaign against the crypto-Jews and crypto-Muslims of Spain. He was one of the chief supporters of the Alhambra Decree, which expelled the Jews from Spain in 1492.

About 2,000 people were burned at the stake by the Spanish Inquisition between 1480 and 1530. In modern times, his name has become synonymous with the Christian Inquisition’s horror, religious bigotry, and cruel fanaticism. Tomás de Torquemada was born in Valladolid, Castile-León, Spain.[citation needed] He was the nephew of a celebrated theologian and cardinal, Juan de Torquemada, who himself was a descendant of a converso (someone who had converted to Christianity from Islam or Judaism). Tomás de Torquemada entered the local Dominican monastery of San Pablo at a very young age. As a zealous advocate of church orthodoxy, Torquemada earned a solid reputation for the triple virtues of learning, piety, and austerity. As a result, he was chosen to be prior of the monastery of Santa Cruz at Segovia. During this time, Torquemada met the young Princess Isabella I and the two immediately established good relations. For a number of years, Torquemada served as her regular confessor and personal advisor.

He was present at Isabella’s coronation in 1474, and remained her closest ally and supporter. Torquemada even advised her to marry King Ferdinand of Aragon in 1469 in order to consolidate their kingdoms and form a power base that he could draw upon for his own purposes. In 1492, he was one of the chief supporters of the Alhambra Decree, which resulted in the mass expulsion of Jews from Spain. Establishment of the Holy Office of the Inquisition Torquemada's concern towards the Spanish Jews grew as he perceived them gaining increasing religious influence on and economic domination of Spain; he firmly believed that the Jews were undermining the Sovereigns’ power and, even more important, the Catholic religion. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella agreed, and so implored Pope Sixtus IV to grant their request for a Holy Office to administer an inquisition in Spain. The pope having granted their request, the Holy Office was established late in 1478. The pope appointed a number of inquisitors for the Spanish Kingdoms early in the year of 1482, and Torquemada was one of them.

A year later, he was named Grand Inquisitor of Spain, which he remained to his death in 1498, leaving to posterity an extraordinary picture of absolute devotion and apostolic implacability. In the fifteen years of his direction, the Spanish Inquisition grew from the single tribunal at Seville to a network of two dozen 'Holy Offices'. As the Grand Inquisitor, Torquemada reorganized the Spanish Inquisition, which had been set up in Castile in 1478, establishing tribunals at Sevilla (Seville), Jaén, Córdoba, Ciudad Real, and, later, Zaragoza. Torquemada’s quest was to rid Spain of all heresy. Jewish conversos and Marranos (Jews who converted to Christianity, but continued practicing their religion in secret) all fell prey to his fanatical hunt for heretics. Torquemada and his followers accused the marranos of proselytizing to Christian communities. Consequently, Torquemada urged all Catholics to spy on the marranos.

Torquemada was described by the Spanish chronicler Sebastián de Olmedo as "the hammer of heretics, the light of Spain, the saviour of his country, the honour of his order". In 1484, he promulgated 28 articles for the guidance of inquisitors, whose competence was extended to include not only crimes of heresy and apostasy, but also sorcery, sodomy, polygamy, blasphemy, usury, and other offenses; torture was authorized in order to obtain evidence. These articles were supplemented by others promulgated between 1484 and 1498. Known for an extreme devotion to his cause, and loyalty to his patrons, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, Torquemada headed an organization of ecclesiastical courts which imprisoned, tortured, and burned suspected nonbelievers at the stake. The number of burnings at the stake during Torquemada’s tenure is estimated at about 2,000. Torquemada’s implacable hostility to the Jews probably exercised an influence on the decision of Ferdinand and Isabella to expel from their dominions all Jews who had not embraced Christianity.

Under the edict of March 31, 1492, known as the Alhambra Decree, more than 40,000 Jews left Spain. Accusations of excess regarding the Spanish Inquisition can be supported by reference to a papal bull by Pope Sixtus IV dating from early 1482 (before Torquemada's appointment as Grand Inquisitor), affirming that, many true and faithful Christians, because of the testimony of enemies, rivals, slaves and other low people—and still less appropriate—without tests of any kind, have been locked up in secular prisons, tortured and condemned like relapsed heretics, deprived of their goods and properties, and given over to the secular arm to be executed, at great danger to their souls, giving a pernicious example and causing scandal to many. Torquemada, for the first while, improved the procedures of previous inquisitions by moderating the (then widespread) use of torture. Torture was to be used only against those accused who were denounced by two or more people of good nature. The use of torture was intensified only if the accused refused to confess.

However, Torquemada showed no mercy to those who refused to repent. Many people were thrown into prison and remained there until death. Many others were either publicly beheaded or burned at the stake. Those condemned to death were forced to wear a sambenito, a black cloak that had designs of hell’s flames or sometimes demons, dragons and snakes engraved on it. Every Spanish Christian over the age of twelve (for girls) and fourteen (for boys) was accountable to the Inquisition. The Inquisition only held jurisdiction over those who had converted to Christianity from Judaism or Islam but who were suspected of secretly practising their old rites, as this corrupted the pure doctrine and faithful practice of the Christian faith. Forced conversions by large numbers, as ordered by cardinal fray Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, took place under significant government pressure. The Treaty of Granada (1491), as negotiated at the final surrender of the Muslim state of Al-Andalus, issued clear protection of religious rights, but with the Alhambra Decree (1492) the reversal began. Anyone who spoke against the Inquisition could fall under suspicion – as with the saints Teresa of Ávila and John of the Cross.

Although the Inquisition is often viewed as being directed against Jews, it actually had no jurisdiction or authority over unconverted Jews or Muslims, and never claimed to have any; only baptised Christians—in other words, persons who claimed to be Catholics—faced possible investigation. Furthermore, of those called to appear before the Holy Office, most were released after their first hearing without any further incident. There is slight disagreement as to the number of victims of the Spanish Inquisition during Torquemada's reign as its Grand Inquisitor. Some scholars believe that he was responsible for the death of 2,000 people. Hernando del Pulgar, Queen Isabella’s secretary, wrote that 2,000 executions took place throughout the entirety of her reign which extended well beyond the death of Torquemada. During his final years, Torquemada’s failing health and advancing age, coupled with widespread complaints, caused Pope Alexander VI to appoint four assistant inquisitors in June 1494 to restrain the Spanish Inquisition. After 15 years as Spain's Grand Inquisitor, Torquemada died in the monastery of St. Thomas in Ávila in 1498.

In 1832, Torquemada's tomb was ransacked, his bones stolen and burnt to ashes. For his role in the Spanish Inquisition, Torquemada's name has become synonymous with fanaticism in the service of the Catholic religion. Within his own order, Torquemada was influential as visitator of the reformed Dominican priories of Aragon (1481–88), and his interest in the arts is evidenced in the monastery of St. Thomas at Ávila, where he died. In his private life, Torquemada seems to have been pious and austere, but his official career as an inquisitor was marked by a harsh intransigence, which nevertheless was generally supported by public opinion, at least in the early years.

Eventually, Torquemada garnered so much hatred that he traveled with a bodyguard of 50 mounted guards and 250 armed men.[citation needed] Secrecy being one of the keys to the workings of the Inquisition, Torquemada's manual of instructions to the Inquisition (Copilacion de las Instruciones del Offico de la Sancta Inquisicion) did not appear in print publicly until 1576, when it was published in Madrid. Jewish Ancestry Torquemada appears to have had Jewish ancestry: the contemporary historian Hernando del Pulgar (himself a converso) recorded that Torquemada's uncle, Juan de Torquemada, had an ancestor Alvar Fernández de Torquemada married to a first-generation Jewish conversa: "sus abuelos fueron de linage de los convertidos a nuestra santa fe católica" (translates as "his grandparents were amongst those converted to our Holy Catholic Faith"). According to biographer Thomas Hope's book, Torquemada, too, Torquemada's grandmother was a conversa.

Torquemada in fiction ▪ Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov features a famous parable involving Christ coming back to Seville in the days of the Spanish Inquisition, and being confronted by Torquemada as the Grand Inquisitor. ▪ Torquemada, a play by Victor Hugo. ▪ Torquemada, an opera by Zoltan Demme based on the above play by Victor Hugo. ▪ Torquemada, an opera by Nino Rota based on a libretto by Ernesto Trucchi. ▪ "Torquemada", The Theologian's Tale from Part One of Tales of a Wayside Inn, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. ▪ In Stuart Gordon's 1990 film adaptation of The Pit and the Pendulum, Lance Henriksen portrays Torquemada. ▪ Marlon Brando portrayed Torquemada in the 1992 film Christopher Columbus: The Discovery. ▪ Tomás de Torquemada is one of the main protagonists of Jerzy Andrzejewski's novel And Darkness Covered the Earth (also translated as The Inquisitors).

▪ Tomás de Torquemada is one of the main characters of Gilbert Sinoué's novel Le livre de saphir. ▪ Mel Brooks portrayed Torquemada in the musical song "The Inquisition" in the 1981 comedy movie History of the World, Part I. During the scene about the Spanish Inquisition, an inquisitor introduces Torquemada by saying, "Torquemada – do not implore him for compassion. Torquemada – do not beg him for forgiveness. Torquemada – do not ask him for mercy. Let's face it, you can't Torquemada ('talk him out of') anything!" 1. ^ Henry Kamen,Inkwizycja Hiszpańska, Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 2005, p. 62; Helen Rawlings, The Spanish Inquisition, 2004, p. 15; William Monter, Anticlericalism and the early Spanish Inquisition, [in:] Anticlericalism in Late Medieval and Early Modern Europe, BRILL, 1993, p. 238 2. ^ see Longhurst 3.

^ Cited in Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision, p. 49. [edit] References ▪ Rafael Sabatini, Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition, (Bretano's 1913; reprinted BiblioLife, 2009). # Paperback: 304 pages, Publisher: House of Stratus; New edition edition (31 May 2001) # Language English # ISBN 1-84232-834-4 # ISBN 978-1-84232-834-7 ▪ William Thomas Walsh, Characters of the Inquisition, (Tan Books and Publishers, 1987). ISBN 0-89555-326-0 . ▪ Henry Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision, (Yale University Press, 1999). ISBN 0-300-07880-3. ▪ Alphonsus Maria Duran, Why Apologize for the Spanish Inquisition?, (Eric Gladkowski,Ed., 2000).

ISBN 0-9702235-0-1. ▪ Enid A. Goldberg & Norman Itzkowitz, "Tomas de Torquemada" (A Wicked History), (Scholastic Books, 2008) ISBN 1-4351-0322-X . Norman Itzkowitz (1931 - ), ▪ Thomas Torquemada, article in 1911 Britannica. ▪ Tomás de Torquemada. ▪ The Age of Torquemada, by John Edward Longhurst (1962). ▪ Henry Charles Lea, The history of the Inquisition of Spain, (Macmillan, 1906–07) Wikisource:A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages/Volume I ▪ Letters on the Spanish Inquisition by Joseph de Maistre. ▪ The Scales of Good and Evil by Cliff Pickover.

Tomas de Torquemada | Spanish inquisitor | Britannica.com Tomas de Torquemada Tomás de Torquemada, (born 1420, Valladolid , Castile [Spain]—died September 16, 1498, Ávila , Castile), first grand inquisitor in Spain , whose name has become synonymous with the Christian Inquisition ’s horror, religious bigotry , and cruel fanaticism. Torquemada, lithograph Courtesy of the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid The nephew of a noted Dominican cardinal and theologian, Juan de Torquemada, the young Torquemada joined the Dominicans and in 1452 became prior of the monastery of Santa Cruz at Segovia , an office that he held for 22 years. He was closely associated with the religious policy of King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I , to whom he was both confessor and adviser (to Isabella, from her childhood).

He was convinced that the existence of the Marranos ( Jewish converts), Moriscos (Islamic converts), Jews, and Moors was a threat to the religious and social life of Spain, and his influence with the Catholic monarchs enabled him to affect their policies. In August 1483 he was appointed grand inquisitor for Castile and León , and on October 17 his powers were extended to Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia, and Majorca. In his capacity as grand inquisitor, Torquemada reorganized the Spanish Inquisition , which had been set up in Castile in 1478, establishing tribunals at Sevilla (Seville), Jaén , Córdoba , Ciudad Real , and, later, Zaragoza . In 1484 he promulgated 28 articles for the guidance of inquisitors, whose competence was extended to include not only crimes of heresy and apostasy but also sorcery, sodomy, polygamy, blasphemy , usury, and other offenses; torture was authorized in order to obtain evidence. These articles were supplemented by others promulgated between 1484 and 1498.

The number of burnings at the stake during Torquemada’s tenure has been estimated at about 2,000. Torquemada’s implacable hostility to the Jews probably exercised an influence on the decision of Ferdinand and Isabella to expel from their dominions all Jews who had not embraced Christianity. Under the edict of March 31, 1492, more than 40,000 Jews left Spain. In his private life Torquemada seems to have been pious and austere , but his official career as inquisitor was marked by a harsh intransigence, which nevertheless was generally supported by public opinion, at least in the early years. Within his own order he was influential as visitator of the reformed Dominican priories of Aragon (1481–88), and his interest in the arts is evidenced in the monastery of St. Thomas at Ávila, where he died. In his final years, Torquemada’s health and age, coupled with widespread complaints, caused Pope Alexander VI to appoint four assistant inquisitors in June 1494 to restrain him.

Learn More in these related articles: Part 14: 12. Tomas de Torquemada (1420-1498) | CosmoLearning History 12. Tomas de Torquemada (1420-1498) F ← Video 14 of 18 → L #14 Video Description 12. The Most Evil Men in History - Tomás de Torquemada (1420-1498) Torquemada tortured and burned thousands of innocent Spaniards and expelled Spains Jewish population. “The Hammer of the Heretics” “The Black Legend” Thomas De Torquemada was head of the Spanish inquisition and was renowned for his cruelty. As well as the atrocities of the inquisition his hatred and persecution of Spains Jews has been described as a mini-holocaust. From Encyclopaedia Btitannica : Tomas de Torquemada was born in 1420, Valladolid, Castile [Spain] and died September 16, 1498, Ávila, Castile.

He was the first grand inquisitor in Spain, whose name has become synonymous with the Christian Inquisition’s horror, religious bigotry, and cruel fanaticism. The nephew of a noted Dominican cardinal and theologian, Juan de Torquemada, the young Torquemada joined the Dominicans and in 1452 became prior of the monastery of Santa Cruz at Segovia, an office that he held for 22 years. He was closely associated with the religious policy of King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I, to whom he was both confessor and adviser (to Isabella, from her childhood). He was convinced that the existence of the Marranos (Jewish converts), Moriscos (Islamic converts), Jews, and Moors was a threat to the religious and social life of Spain, and his influence with the Catholic monarchs enabled him to affect their policies. In August 1483 he was appointed grand inquisitor for Castile and León, and on October 17 his powers were extended to Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia, and Majorca.

In his capacity as grand inquisitor, Torquemada reorganized the Spanish Inquisition, which had been set up in Castile in 1478, establishing tribunals at Sevilla (Seville), Jaén, Córdoba, Ciudad Real, and, later, Zaragoza. From Wikipedia : Tomás de Torquemada, O.P. (1420 – September 16, 1498) was a fifteenth century Spanish Dominican friar, first Inquisitor General of Spain, and confessor to Isabella I of Castile. He was famously described by the Spanish chronicler Sebastián de Olmedo as "The hammer of heretics, the light of Spain, the saviour of his country, the honour of his order". He is known for his zealous campaign against the crypto-Jews and crypto-Muslims of Spain. He was one of the chief supporters of the Alhambra Decree, which expelled the Jews from Spain in 1492. The number of autos-de-fé during Torquemada's tenure as Inquisitor General have been hotly debated over the years.

Today, there is a general consensus that about 2000 people were burned by the Inquisition in the whole of Spain between 1480 and 1530, while Torquemada was Grand Inquisitor from 1483 until his death in 1498. Documentary Description This series of programmes consists of 16 episodes which profile 16 evil men and women throughout history who have used their power to torture, kill, maim and eradicate millions of people. 1. The Most Evil Men in History - Attila The Hun Attila was Khan of the Huns. He is remembered as the epitome of cruelty and rapacity. He passed unhindered through Austria and Germany, across the Rhine into Gaul, plundering and devastating all in his path with a ferocity unparalleled in the records of barbarian invasions and compelling those he overcame to augment his mighty army. 2. The Most Evil Men in History - Bad King John He murdered his nephew, inspired the legend of Robin Hood and caused the creation of Magna Carta. 3.

The Most Evil Men in History - Caligula The Roman emperor's reign is a legendary frenzy of lunacy, murder, and perverse sexuality. 4. The Most Evil Men in History - Francisco Pizarro Francisco Pizarro was one of the European explorers who went to South America to colonize it and had natives murdered so he could plunder their gold and silver. Pizarro and his men arrived at Cajamarca (in 1533), where they captured Atahuallpa, the 13th and last emperor of the Incas. Atahuallpa had just won a civil war against his half-brother (Huscar), and had executed Huscar and his family. Atahuallpa had invited Pizarro to a celebratory feast, thinking that the Spanish were not much of a threat. Pizarro ambushed Atahuallpa and killed thousands of his men. Atahuallpa offered a huge ransom for his own release, but Pizarro took the treasure and had Atahuallpa strangled on August 29, 1533; this was the end of the Incan empire.

After looting and generally destroying the Incan capital of Cusco, Pizarro founded Lima. Pizarro was assassinated in Lima, Peru, in 1541, by followers of Pedro de Almagro (Cortes' captain) who wanted to seize Lima for its riches. 5. The Most Evil Men in History - Hitler Adolf Hitler tried to mould Germany and a large portion of the 20th century into his own twisted design. Luckily for posterity he failed but not before destroying the lives of millions of people. 6. The Most Evil Men in History - Idi Amin Idi Amin rose to become a brutal and utterly ruthless dictator who committed atrocities on his people. 7. The Most Evil Men in History - Ivan the Terrible Ivan IV of Russia, also know as Ivan the Terrible, was the Grand Duke of Muscovy from 1533 to 1547 and was the first ruler of Russia to assume the title of Tsar. He was also a devout theist. With his orders, between 500 and 1,000 people were gathered every day by the troops, then tortured and killed in front of Ivan and his son.

In 1581, Ivan beat his pregnant daughter-in-law for wearing immodest clothing, causing a miscarriage. His son, also named Ivan, upon learning of this, engaged in a heated argument with his father, which resulted in Ivan striking his son in the head with his pointed staff, causing his son’s (accidental) death. 8. The Most Evil Men in History - Joseph Stalin Perhaps 7 million or more people were shot with a total suppression of about 50 million under uncle Joe Stalin. One of the great tyrant's of the 20th century and indeed any century. 9. The Most Evil Men in History - Nero He brought the entire Roman Empire to the brink of collapse with his legendary excesses and cruelty. 10. The Most Evil Men in History - Pol Pot Responsible for the Killing Fields and Year Zero Pol Pot waged a gruesome war on his own population. 11.The Most Evil Men in History - Rasputin He was an uneducated peasant who gained a reputation as a faith healer. His strange behavior and incredible influence over the imperial family made him notorious and his death made him a legend. Gregory Rasputin dominated the final years of imperial Russia.

The mysterious monk who enjoyed the favour of the Czar was rumoured to be a Holy Devil, who preached the word of God but practiced every form of corruption. 12. The Most Evil Men in History - Torquemada Torquemada tortured and burned thousands of innocent Spaniards and expelled Spains Jewish population. “The Hammer of the Heretics” “The Black Legend” Thomas De Torquemada was head of the Spanish inquisition and was renowned for his cruelty. As well as the atrocities of the inquisition his hatred and persecution of Spains Jews has been described as a mini-holocaust. 13.The Most Evil Men in History - Vlad the Impaler Vlad is best known for the legends of the exceedingly cruel punishments he imposed during his reign and for serving as the primary inspiration for the vampire main character in Bram Stoker’s popular Dracula novel. 14. The Most Evil Women in History - Bloody Mary Tudor Mary was the only child of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon to live past infancy. By her orders, many prominent Protestants were burned alive for their beliefs leading to her being referred to as “Bloody Mary” since her death.

Fearing the stake a further 800 Protestants left the country, unable to return until after her death. 15. The Most Evil Women in History - Countess Dracula Countess Elizabeth Bathory is considered the most infamous serial killer in Hungarian/Slovak history. Rumours had circulated for years about missing peasant girls; offered well paid work at the castle, they were never seen again. 16. The Most Evil Women in History - llse Koch Die Hexe von Buchenwald, the Witch of Buchenwald, or the Bitch of Buchenwald was the wife of Karl Koch, commandant of the concentration camps Buchenwald from 1937 to 1941, and Majdanek from 1941 to 1943. Drunk on the absolute power rendered by her husband, she revelled in torture and obscenity. Original Broadcasting THE MOST EVIL MEN IN HISTORY is a six part documentary series about notorious historical individuals. Produced by GB. Uden Associates. Tx. Channel 5. Mon. 20.30-21.00. 2001/09/10-2001/10/15.

Episodes Tomas de Torquemada facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Tomas de Torquemada COPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group Inc. Tomas de Torquemada Tomas de Torquemada (1420-1498) served as the Grand Inquisitor in Spain's zealous movement to restore Christianity among its populace in the late fifteenth century. Known for an extreme devotion to his cause and loyalty to his patrons, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, Torquemada headed an organization of ecclesiastical courts which imprisoned, tortured, and burned suspected nonbelievers at the stake. It is estimated that at least 2,000 died in Spain during his tenure. Torquemada was born in 1420 in Valladolid, Spain. He was the nephew of a celebrated theologian and cardinal, Juan de Torquemada, who himself was a descendant of a converso. This was the term that designated a Spaniard who had converted to Christianity from Islam or Judaism. In the eighth century, Moors invaded Spain. This powerful group of North African nomadic peoples had originally come from Mauritania.

Recent converts to Islam, they conquered the southern half of Spain and established the Umayyad emirate there. Over the next few centuries Moorish Spain thrived, and great mosques were built; religious tolerance, however, was also the order of the day, and Spain's Christians, Jews, and Muslims coexisted peacefully, however tenuous the arrangement. Even the most famous folk hero from this era, El Cid, was a Christian who entered into the service of a Muslim ruler in the late eleventh century. By the 1200s, however, the Moors were losing much territory to hostile Christian armies from the northern half of Spain, and soon the Moorish strongholds of Toledo and Cordoba began to surrender. Religious tolerance began to ebb in the newly Christian Spanish kingdoms. Laws against Jews were enacted in several towns and cities. They were compelled to wear a special symbol or were restricted in business matters. They could not work as grocers or butchers, for example, and could not hire a Christian to work for them; in other cases, heavy fines were levied on Jews who did not appear on the religious feast day of Corpus Christi to pay respect to the annual procession.

Many Muslims and Jews began to convert, finding it more socially, politically and economically expedient to join the Christian fold. An ancestor of Torquemada's did so in the 1300s. In 1391 unruly summer mobs rioted against wealthy Jews in the kingdom of Castile and forcibly baptized them. The unrest spread to Seville, Cordoba, Valencia and Barcelona. Many of those who refused to convert were slain. An Era of Religious Intolerance New tensions arose, however, for Christians came to regard the conversos with distrust. It was rumored that many conversos practiced their true faith in private or took part in secret and blasphemous ceremonies that mocked the Christian mass. But Christianity itself was far from an orderly, organized religion in Spain at the time. Priests complained that most believers were alarmingly ignorant about the very origins of the faith, its tenets, and the sacraments; many thought that some sort of magic was involved in the liturgy. Such was the situation when Torquemada took his religious vows as a Dominican monk in the mid-1400s. Torquemada served as the prior of the Monastery of Santa Cruz at Segovia for 22 years.

His more public career, however, would be closely linked to Spain's Queen Isabella I. Her marriage to Ferdinand, scion of a long line of anti-Moorish Spanish rulers of Castile and Leon, made her one of the most powerful women in the world in her day. She came to know Torquemada when he was prior of the Monastery of Santa Cruz and she was living in Segovia. She requested that he become her confessor, or personal priest, and when she assumed the throne in 1474, Torquemada rose to a position of great influence at her court and became confessor to Ferdinand as well. She offered the monk grander ecclesiastical titles for his service as an adviser to them, which he declined. Torquemada was already well-known for his fanaticism: he had been the first to introduce a statute of limpieza sangre, or "pure blood," into a Dominican house, and had supervised a book burning of works considered heretical at a monastery in Salamanca.

The Role Accorded the Dominicans The term "Inquisition" had been used as early as 1233 to designate a new type of ecclesiastical court that could determine heresy among Christian ranks and bring the accused back to the fold; the court also held the power to punish suspected nonbelievers if they refused to confess and repent. The Dominican order to which Torquemada belonged was granted special powers by Rome and came to be the leaders of inquisitions at a local level, first in Germany, then in parts of France and Italy. The initial inquisitions in these places were decidedly unpopular and unsuccessful, and in some cases the inquisitors themselves were killed. Ferdinand and Isabella, deciding that a wholesale separation of Christians from non-Christians was the solution to Spain's unrest, asked Pope Sixtus IV to establish an Inquisition in Spain in 1478. The first attempts were disorganized and encountered much resistance. Ferdinand and Isabella again asked Rome to intervene. They were then allowed to establish seven Inquisition courts across Spain in February of 1482.

Torquemada became head of one of the tribunals, having met the stipulations of the post: the inquisitors had to be at least forty years old, possess a flawless reputation, and be well-versed in theology or canonical law. A Medieval Holocaust The Inquisition launched a reign of terror in Spain. People could be summoned from their homes and taken to a secret place for questioning simply on the basis of an anonymous denunciation made to the Inquisition authorities. The accused were kept in darkness so they could not see their accusers or judges, and testimony that would normally be discounted in a court of law-from thieves, the excommunicated, or criminals-was acceptable. The accused was not allowed to have a lawyer or legal clerk to help him with his case, since they, too, would be viewed as accomplices to heresy by the court. They were also compelled to swear an oath of truth before taking the stand, and a refusal to utter the oath was automatic grounds for imprisonment. The auto-da-fe, or a mass public bonfire of nonbelievers, began to occur with alarming frequency.

In 1483 Torquemada became Grand Inquisitor of Castile, and on October 17, 1483, Ferdinand appointed him chief inquisitor of Aragon. He convened a general assembly of the other inquisitors in 1484 in Seville, and gave them an outline with 28 points to conduct their inquiries. In 1488 he was named head of the Consejo de la Suprema y General Inquisicion, which gave him virtual papal powers over a large part of Spain. Nothing could take place without his approval, including a prison term, an excommunication order, or an auto-de-fe; he also controlled the priests and bishops, and even went after some of them as heretics as well. Opposition remained strong in many places; in some cities, Jewish or converso families had risen to prominence in politics and finance and spoke out against the Inquisition's methods, which included heinous, though bloodless according to Church law, forms of torture. Jews, however, were immune from prosecution by the Inquisition, since it was an ecclesiastical court charged with determining heresy within its own ranks.

Abuse of Power The terror and officially sanctioned lawlessness of the Inquisition was the result of its violation of several human rights tenets. The prosecutor and judge were the same person, which compelled him to make his charges stick to the defendant at all costs. Secondly, all suspects were presumed guilty, and Torquemada instructed his judges that a person might outwardly be very devout, but in his or her heart could be a nonbeliever; it was the judge's role to ask a series of questions on theological topics to determine his true belief. If the defendant still professed his innocence-his belief in Christianity as dictated by the Church, that is-he could be imprisoned for an unspecified length of time. Those who survived, confessed, and were set free were forced to wear a sanbenito, or special penitential garment with a large "X" on it. Those convicted and excommunicated could appeal to the Holy See in Rome, but Torquemada had jurisdiction over all appeals as well. The property of those condemned was seized by the inquisitors for the state, and in other cases bribes were paid for release.

Torquemada's role as Grand Inquisitor allowed him to ruthlessly implement these policies across the entire Iberian peninsula. Scholars estimate that under Torquemada's watch, 2,000 to 8,800 Spaniards were burned at the stake. His powers sometimes invoked the wrath of Rome, but he was closely allied with Ferdinand and Isabella, who were determined to eradicate Spain's religious problems-by ridding the kingdoms of non-Christians entirely. A large number of those summoned before the Inquisition courts were conversos; in Catalonia, 1,199 were tried between 1488 and 1505, and 1,191 of them were conversos. Some Jews settled old scores, lying about conversos who had treated them with disdain, and accused the new Christians of practicing Jewish customs in secret. Spain's Jews Expelled The dilemma led many to suggest that Spain's Jews should be expelled en masse, and Torquemada convinced Ferdinand to enact a decree that would ban Judaism from Spain entirely in 1492.

A coalition of powerful Jewish families offered the king 30,000 ducats in return for rescinding the expulsion decree, and Ferdinand contemplated accepting their offer. Reportedly Torquemada appeared before his patron with a crucifix, said, "Judas Iscariot sold Christ for 30 pieces of silver; Your Highness is about to sell him for 30,000 ducats. Here He is; take Him and sell Him," and with those words laid the cross on the table. Ferdinand submitted, and some 80,000 Jews were forced into exile. That same year, Spanish royal forces had seized that last stronghold of Moorish Spain at Granada, making the country, at least outwardly, a homogenous Christian nation. The Inquisition still continued, however. Torquemada served as Grand Inquisitor until his death on September 16, 1498, in the city of Avila. Diego de Deza succeeded him and the Inquisition was carried on, in varying degrees of harshness, for the next 300 years.

After the rise of Protestantism in the late 1500s across many other parts of Europe, and the subsequent pyrrhic religious wars this engendered, the Inquisition courts in Spain were used to root out anti-Catholic sentiments. It spread to Spanish colonies in Central and South America as well. It was abolished by a Revolution of 1820, but only in 1869 was a law guaranteeing religious liberty for all enacted in Spain. Books Torquemada, Tomás de (1420–1498) The Renaissance COPYRIGHT 2008 Greenhaven Torquemada, Tomás de (1420–1498) A notorious prosecutor of the Spanish Inquisition who served the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella by ruthlessly ridding their kingdom of non- Christians during the 1490s. It was Torquemada's task to root out all false converters and punish them with imprisonment, public humiliation, expulsion from the kingdom, or death. Born in the town of Torquemada, he was the nephew of a Catholic cardinal, Juan de Torquemada.

Raised in Valladolid, Tomás became a friar of the Dominican order and was then appointed as the prior of Santa Cruz , a monastery in Segovia. He became confessor of Isabella, heir to the throne of Castile , while the princess was living in Segovia. In 1474, when Isabella became the queen of Castile, Torquemada followed her to the royal palace, where he became both confessor and adviser. In 1478, Pope Sixtus IV established the Inquisition, an office meant to root out all religious heresy. The first Inquisition court was established in the southern city of Seville. In 1483, the pope rewarded Torquemada for his service to the church by naming him to the post of General Inquisitor. Over the next few years Torquemada founded Inquisition courts in Valladolid, Seville, Cordoba, Zaragoza, and Avila, established a council of five to hear appeals, and wrote a set of rules and regulations for religious trials that remained in effect until the eighteenth century.

But the Inquisition had jurisdiction only over Christians; in the meantime the Jews of Spain , also known as Marranos, were accused of heinous crimes, including the notorious murder of Pedro de Arbues, another member of the Inquisition, in 1485. Frustrated by his inability to arrest and try members of the Jewish faith, Torquemada decided on a show trial as the most effective way to enhance his authority. He had eight Jews rounded up in the town of LaGuardia, and had them tried and convicted of the ritual murder of a Christian child—even though the court had no evidence of the crime and no victim. In 1492, the threat of Jewish ritual murder, as revealed by the LaGuardia trial, persuaded Ferdinand and Isabella to pass the Alhambra Decree, giving all Jews one month to leave Spain; those who remained had to sincerely disavow their faith and convert to Christianity . Torquemada's Inquisition court arrested suspects denounced by a network of spies, and extracted confessions through torture. The Inquisition seized the property of those it accused, then paraded them through the streets before having them publicly whipped at the doors of a church.

Some of the suspects were turned over to the civil authorities for a public execution. A mass execution of this sort, known as an auto-da-fé, or “act of faith,” might have a dozen or more victims tied to stakes and burned to death. See Also: Ferdinand II of Aragon; Inquisition; Isabella of Castile; Jews Cite this article The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright The Columbia University Press Tomás de Torquemada (tōmäs´ dā tôrkāmä´ŧħä), 1420–98, Spanish churchman and inquisitor. A Dominican, he became confessor to Ferdinand II and Isabella I and in 1483 was appointed inquisitor general of Castile and Aragón, charged with the centralization of the Spanish Inquisition . He was largely instrumental in bringing about the expulsion of the Jews in 1492. His great authority was contested by colleagues and was diminished in some measure by the pope, but he remained preeminent until his death. Torquemada owes his reputation for cruelty to the harsh rules of procedure that he devised for the Inquisition and to the rigor with which he had them enforced.

Cite this article Tomás de Torquemada - Encyclopedia Volume - Catholic Encyclopedia - Catholic Online Catholic Encyclopedia Encyclopedia Volume Tomás de Torquemada First Grand Inquisitor of Spain, born at Valladolid in 1420; died at Avila, 16 September, 1498. He was a nephew of the celebrated theologian and cardinal, Juan de Torquemada. In his early youth he entered the Dominican monastery at Valladolid, and later was appointed prior of the Monastery of Santa Cruz at Segovia, an office which he held for twenty-two years. The Infanta Isabella chose him as her confessor while at Segovia, and when she succeeded to the throne of Castile in 1474 he became one of her most trusted and influential councillors, but refused all high ecclesiastical preferments, choosing to remain a simple friar. At that time the purity of the Catholic Faith in Spain was in great danger from the numerous Marranos and Moriscos, who, for material considerations, became sham converts from Judaism and Mohammedanism to Christianity. The Marranos committed serious outrages against Christianity and endeavoured to judaize the whole of Spain.

The Inquisition, which the Catholic sovereigns had been empowered to establish by Sixtus IV in 1478, had, despite unjustifiable cruelties, failed of its purpose, chiefly for want of centralisation. In 1483 the pope appointed Torquemada, who had been an assistant inquisitor since 11 February 1482, Grand Inquisitor of Castile, and on 17 October extended his jurisdiction over Aragon. As papal representative and the highest official of the inquisitorial court, Torquemada directed the entire business of the Inquisition in Spain, was empowered to delegate his inquisitorial faculties to other Inquisitors of his own choosing, who remained accountable to him, and settled the appeals made to the Holy See. He immediately established tribunals at Valladolid, Seville, Jaén, Avila, Cordova, and Villa-real, and, in 1484, at Saragossa for the Kingdom of Aragon . He also instituted a High Council, consisting of five members, whose chief duty was to assist him in the hearing of appeals (see INQUISITION -- The Inquisition in Spain ).

He convened a general assembly of Spanish inquisitors at Seville, 29 November, 1484, and presented an outline of twenty-eight articles for their guidance. To these he added several new statutes in 1485, 1488, and 1498 (Reuss, "Sammlungen der Instructionen des spanischen Inquisitionsgerichts", Hanover, 1788). The Marranos found a powerful means of evading the tribunals in the Jews of Spain, whose riches had made them very influential and over whom the Inquisition had no jurisdiction. On this account Torquemada urged the sovereigns to compel all the Jews either to become Christians or to leave Spain. To frustrate his designs the Jews agreed to pay the Spanish government 30,000 ducats if left unmolested. There is a tradition that when Ferdinand was about to yield to the enticing offer, Torquemada appeared before him, bearing a crucifix aloft, and exclaiming: " Judas Iscariot sold Christ for 30 pieces of silver; Your Highness is about to sell him for 30,000 ducats.

Here He is; take Him and sell Him." Leaving the crucifix on the table he left the room. Chiefly through his instrumentality the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492. Much has been written of the inhuman cruelty of Torquemada. Llorente computes that during Torquemada's office (1483-98) 8800 suffered death by fire and 9,654 were punished in other ways (Histoire de l' Inquisition, IV, 252). These figures are highly exaggerated, as has been conclusively proved by Hefele (Cardinal Ximenes, ch. xviii), Gams (Kirchengeschichte von Spanien, III, II, 68-76), and many others. Even the Jewish historian Graetz contents himself with stating that "under the first Inquisitor Torquemada, in the course of fourteen years (1485-1498) at least 2000 Jews were burnt as impenitent sinners " ("History of the Jews ", Philadelphia, 1897, IV, 356).

Most historians hold with the Protestant Peschel (Das Zeitalter der Entdeckungen, Stuttgart, 1877, pp. 119 sq.) that the number of persons burnt from 1481 to 1504, when Isabella died, was about 2000. Whether Torquemada's ways of ferreting out and punishing heretics were justifiable is a matter that has to be decided not only by comparison with the penal standard of the fifteenth century, but also, and chiefly, by an inquiry into their necessity for the preservation of Christian Spain. The contemporary Spanish chronicler, Sebastian de Olmedo (Chronicon magistrorum generalium Ordinis Prædicatorum, fol. 80-81) calls Torquemada "the hammer of heretics, the light of Spain, the saviour of his country, the honour of his order".

Question: Tomas de Torquemada born 1420 died 1498, was a prominent leader of what?
Answer: SPANISH INQUISITION